<p class="poetry">Your wife will be like a fruitful vine<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">in the inner rooms of your house;p> <p class="poetry">your children<n id="2" /> will be like olive branches,p> <p class="poetry">as they sit all around your table.p>

<p class="poetry">So it is with<n id="1" /> the one who has sex with<n id="2" /> his neighbor&#8217;s wife;p> <p class="poetry">no one<n id="3" /> who touches<n id="4" /> her will escape<n id="5" /> punishment.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">It is better to live on a corner of the housetop<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">than in a house in company<n id="2" /> with a quarrelsome wife.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">It is better to live on a corner of the housetopp> <p class="poetry">than in a house in company with a quarrelsome wife.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is the way<n id="1" /> of an adulterous<n id="2" /> woman:p> <p class="poetry">she eats and wipes her mouth<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and says, &#8220;I have not done wrong.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Charm is deceitful<n id="1" /> and beauty is fleeting,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">but a woman who fears the <sc>Lordsc><n id="3" /> will be praised.p>

<p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Maidens to The Beloved:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">Why is your beloved better than others,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">O most beautiful of women?p> <p class="poetry">Why is your beloved better than others,p> <p class="poetry">that you would command us in this manner?p>

<t /><p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Maidens to the Beloved:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">Where has your beloved gone,p> <p class="poetry">O most beautiful among women?p> <p class="poetry">Where has your beloved turned?p> <p class="poetry">Tell us,<n id="1" /> that we may seek him with you.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Oppressors treat my<n id="1" /> people cruelly;p> <p class="poetry">creditors rule over them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">My people&#8217;s leaders mislead them;p> <p class="poetry">they give you confusing directions.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">You complacent<n id="1" /> women,p> <p class="poetry">get up and listen to me!p> <p class="poetry">You carefree<n id="2" /> daughters,p> <p class="poetry">pay attention to what I say!p>

<p class="poetry">Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Even if mothers<n id="3" /> were to forget,p> <p class="poetry">I could never forget you!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">That is why the rains have been withheld,p> <p class="poetry">and the spring rains have not come.p> <p class="poetry">Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.p>

<p class="poetry">But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">They are like lusty, well-fed<n id="1" /> stallions.p> <p class="poetry">Each of them lusts after<n id="2" /> his neighbor&#8217;s wife.p>

&#8220;Do not get married and do not have children here in this land.

<p class="poetry">I used you to smash men and women.p> <p class="poetry">I used you to smash old men and young men.p> <p class="poetry">I used you to smash young men and young women.p>

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1497; (<i>Yodi>)p> <p class="poetry">The hands of tenderhearted women<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">cooked their own children,p> <p class="poetry">who became their food,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">when my people<n id="3" /> were destroyed.<n id="4" />p>

I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct.

<p class="bodytext">So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. In the morning<n id="1" /> I acted just as I was commanded.

You rely<n id="1" /> on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor&#8217;s wife. Will you possess the land?&#8217;p>